Nethaera

With availability of the level 90 character boost, we feel the requirement to have a character level 55 or higher to unlock the Death Knight as a playable class is no longer relevant. The plan right now is to remove the limitation sometime next week, at which point players will be able to start a new Death Knight (which still begins at level 55) without first having to reach level 55 on another character.

Edit: A later post stated that this would be delayed to a new content patch.

Crithto

Upon looking into making this change, we discovered that a few client-side adjustments would need to go through in order for it to work. Therefore, our new plan is to remove the level 55 requirement for Death Knight creation in an upcoming content patch.

Garrison Resources are a hot commodity in Warlords of Draenor as they’re needed to construct Garrison buildings, level your Garrison to level 3, send followers on Missions, and purchase Tier 17 currency. The following quests provide a sizable number of Garrison Resources:

Quest items in Warlords have a chance to be upgraded when acquiring them.

Uncommon-quality rewards have the chance to have a +10 ilvl boost and become rare, or a +20 ilvl boost and become epic.

Rare-quality rewards have the chance to have a +10 ilvl boost and become epic.

To see your quest progress in a zone, you can use the Wowhead Profiler. Simply enter in your character’s realm and name under “Lookup Battle.net Profile” and click on the “Quests” tab when your character loads.

In addition, you can “pin” this character via the options at the top right of your Profiler, and when you browse quests on Wowhead, Quick Facts will tell you if you’ve completed that quest or not!

Rares Leveling Gear

Warlords of Draenor is filled with rare spawns. The ones you encounter while leveling will always drop their loot on the first kill, after which point they will cease to be rare. They also grant a nice chunk of XP.

To see all of the chests and their locations, click on the image below to open the map in a new window. You can then mouseover the dots to see the treasure chests and coordinates, or click on the dot to be taken to an chest’s specific page.

Not sure if you have already found a chest? We have a handy macro on all chest pages you can paste in-game to see if you’ve killed the NPC or not.

November 26th Hotfixes

Lore

We've just pushed live a hotfix that increases the healing done by Enveloping Mists by 50%. This most likely won't be added to the hotfix blog until after the weekend, but we wanted to be sure you were aware of it before then, as it's already active. :)

Lore

Due to an error, there were a few glyphs that were unable to be crafted via Inscription, which made them unobtainable. These glyphs are:

To make sure players have access to them, we've added them to the Inscription vendors in Stormshield and Warspear. Alliance players can purchase them from Joao Calhandro, and Horde players can purchase them from Maru'sa.

Update: We're also working on adding Glyph of Cleanse (Paladin) and Glyph of Frostbrand Weapon (Shaman). Glyph of Cleanse will be added to the Inscription vendors like the other glyphs. Glyph of Frostbrand Weapon's item is missing from the game files, so we can't add it to the vendors via hotfix. Instead, it will be automatically taught to all Shaman level 75 or higher.

Shadowmoon Valley Leveling Guide

This guide provides a brief overview of Shadowmoon Valley, a leveling zone intended for level 90-92 Alliance players in Warlords of Draenor.

This guide covers how to level from 1-60 on the same continent--maybe you want to level an alt to 60 to get the Veteran bonus for upcoming level boosts, or just want something new!

Find out where to go and what zones you shouldn't pass up in our guide! We've even included some fun items to hunt for to give you reasons to check out certain zones over others.

Each section breaks down the questing experience by continent and faction, along with maps and descriptions of interesting things in each zone. We've also included a section for dungeons at the end in case you prefer to get some experience that way.

With the new Recruit a Friend program unveiled this week, it's the perfect time to think about leveling! This guide covers ways to improve your leveling experience and useful beginner info for new Recruit-a-Friend players! Patch 5.4 made it pretty easy to get epics once you're 90, so let's talk about what you need to do to get there!

We've covered the basics like how to gain experience, transportation, and talents, as well as ways to speed up leveling like experience buffs and Recruit-a-Friend. We also look at some gear details, like heirlooms that increase experience gained, scaling enchants, and gems that can be used at different levels.

One of the controversial announcements in Warlords of Draenor is the decision to have Draenor be ground-mount only until Patch 6.1. This means no flying mounts, even if you're level 100, until the first major patch hits.

Bashiok explained the reasoning behind this today, citing the following:

Previous expansions did not allow players to fly when leveling up--Warlords of Draenor will work in the same way.

Blizzard is happy with how Isle of Thunder and Timeless Isle were max level zones with only ground mounts, and thinks level 100 players in Warlords will be similarly successful.

Flying trivializes combat--you can just leave combat at will. Imagine what dungeons or battlegrounds would be like if you could fly--the experience would be cheapened.

The pacing of outdoor zones is thrown off by flying combat. Zones suddenly appear much smaller since traveling is fast, mountains and other striking scenery is diminished when you can just fly there, and the sense of exploration is toned down.

Mists of Pandaria, the fourth World of Warcraft expansion, went live on September 25th. We've rounded up our daily beta previews and created a guide to everything that's new--from Tier Armor to neon Pandaren hair streaks.

General Changes

Some quality-of-life changes and clarifications relevant to Mists' launch:

You will not need to log out at midnight PST to play Mists. You will get a quest at midnight directing you to quest in the new zones, and will be able to create Pandaren on the character selection screen.

Quest rewards in Mists are dynamic. This means that you will see options based on your class and specialization. Our database pages show all the possible options and by clicking on the spec icons, you can see the possible rewards.

You may also want to check out our 5.0.4 Guide from last month to read up on recent changes.

Classes

You may have seen some of the class changes in 5.0.4 with the talent tree revisions, but there are even more changes in Mists of Pandaria. Our class previews highlight all versions of Tier 14, Challenge Mode, and Season 12 PvP armor models, as well as new abilities, level 90 talents, and major changes.

Dungeons

There are nine dungeons players can run at level 90. Six are new to Pandaria and three are revisions of familiar favorites. Heroic dungeons will reward ilvl 463 gear, with a slight chance of an ilvl 476 epic from the last boss. Completing Glory of the Pandaria Hero awards Reins of the Crimson Cloud Serpent.

Challenge Modes are a new type of dungeon added in Mists of Pandaria. Players will race to complete dungeons and receive rewards (mounts, transmoggable gear, titles, Pandaria teleports) based on their times, and super-competitive players will compete on realm leaderboards. The catch is that your gear scales to ilvl 463, so you'll never be able to really outgear it. Our guide has all the rewards and achievements listed, including unique armor sets.

Pet Battles

Pet Battles are a laid-back minigame added in Mists of Pandaria. While the gameplay is not meant to be competitive, you can get pretty wrapped up in catching and leveling up hundreds of pets around Pandaria. Check out Wowhead's pet battle preview. There are 10 pet family schools, each with strengths and weaknesses against different schools, but there are plenty of achievements that just reward you for collecting if fighting isn't your style.

Collect:In Mists of Pandaria, you not only collect vanity pets, but also wild pets. Plus, you can name them! Completing a bunch of battle pet achievements nets you Jade Tentacle and the title The Tamer.

There are hundreds of wild pets out there--some of which are unique to certain zones, or only spawn at a certain hour. To collect wild pets, you'll need to find and battle them in the wild, attempting to capture them at low health. We've built an interactive world map letting you browse what pets are in each zone, and we also made a visual database for battle pets letting you find the perfect pet!

Level:Once you've picked a team of three pets, you can take them out into the world to battle. Your pet will get experience based on the opponent it fights and if it stays alive through the match. Healing pets is very slow, so don't be reckless.

There are 25 experience levels and if you've raised 75 pets to level 25, you're rewarded with Singing Cricket Cage.

Pet Tamers:In addition to battling pets in the wild and anonymously queueing against other players (known as PvP battles), you can battle a variety of quirky pet tamers around Azeroth--they even show up on our map. As you work your way up to trickier teams, you unlock more daily quests such as Taming Outland. Defeating the trainers also rewards you with Sack of Pet Supplies, which has a chance to contain Porcupette.

Professions

In addition to new profession perks and consumables, many professions received vanity items for extra flavor, including mounts and pets. We have all the recipes, reagents, profession perks, 3D models, and vanity items listed in our guides below.

The rare crafting item in Mists of Pandaria will be Spirit of Harmony, which is needed to create most high-level items or costly transmutes, like Mystery of the Mists. It is made from forming 10 Mote of Harmony together, which are world drops. These are BoP, so you'll be out there farming for a while. Check out Blizzard's official summary here.

PvP Power and PvP Resilience are new stats in Mists. PvP Power increases the damage you do to other players as well as the healing you do to other players in PvP situations. PvP Resilience continues to be a defense stat. These two stats will only work in PvP situations, helping to ensure that PvE gear will remain weaker. Yon can filter by these stats now in our database.

There are three tiers of PvP armor: Dreadful (Honor Points), Malevolent (Conquest Points), and Malevolent Elite (Conquest Points + 2200 rating). Vendors can be found on the Great Wall--Horde vendors by Kun-Lai, Alliance vendors by Dread Wastes.

Check out our Season 12 Gear Preview for a look at all the new items, including Dreadful, Malevolent, and Malevolent Elite gear, new weapons, and all accessories.

Reputations

Reputations are much more dynamic in Mists. The old method of farming reputation via a tabard is gone--you'll do constantly-changing dailies and you won't need to grind to Exalted if you want epic gear. Gear rewards are at Honored and Revered--only players that want vanity items need to max out reputation.

At Revered with the following factions, players can purchase epic ilvl 489 items with Valor Points. These factions also have fun Exalted rewards like mounts:

The Lorewalkers: Faction that sells archaeology rewards and unlocks cutscenes showing Pandaria's mythology. Fly around the world and find monuments for reputation.

Order of the Cloud Serpent: You'll need to hit Exalted with this faction if you want to use Cloud Serpent mounts. Along the way, you'll gain a cloud serpent mount and be able to use cloud serpents as battle pets.

The Tillers: Grow your own farm and harvest daily crops. In addition, many Tiller NPCs have friendship meters and give you special rewards if you do additional quests for them.

All factions have elaborate tabards as Exalted rewards: check out our visual preview.

Raids

There are three raids in Mists of Pandaria, as well as two outdoor bosses. All of our database pages have the Dungeon Journal strategy and loot tables up.

Some changes have been made to LFR: the loot is not meant to feel as powerful as it did in Tier 13, and the LFR instances will be launching weeks after MoP's release. Ideally, this means that raiders will have a chance to get upgrades before LFR opens and will not feel forced to run it. You can read more about it here.

There is a new legendary weapon chain that appears to span the whole expansion--and the weapons can be used by any class. Tier 14 is just the first step of this series: players are rewarded by putting +500 stat legendary gems into "Sha-Touched" weapons, which can even be looted in LFR. Check out our guide for all the quests and eligible weapons.

Learn more about how to acquire Valor Points for raiding epics here and the gear ilvls associated with every instance and difficulty level.

Scenarios

Scenarios fill the role of group elite quests in Mists of Pandaria. Players can queue with several friends--no specs or specific classes required--and do these quick runs. Completing each run will award you with an ilvl 463 BoE with random stats, and several achievements can be completed in each. Learn more about the design process in Dev Watercooler: Scenarios.

Theramore's Fall: Alliance and Horde get separate scenarios covering different parts of this tragedy.

Transmogrification

We updated our transmogrification database to have over 100 new sets. Whether you're a rogue that wants to look like a Tier 14 Heroic Druid or unsure if your quest reward has a unique color before deleting it, we have all the information. We've also updated our Same Model As tab to show matching results for all Mists of Pandaria items.

Be sure to click on the images in our previews below to view them in our Flash 3D Modelviewer.

Vanity Items

Blizzard has wanted to bring back quirky exploration details that were a hallmark of vanilla WoW. There are many neat vanity things you can find around the world and dozens of items to collect.

Black Market Auction House: This new type of Auction House has rare mounts and pets, as well as removed Tier 3 armor and current raid epics up for sale (without a buyout). These items for sale are randomly generated by the server--players cannot put items up for sale here.

We have a news round up and some fun things from beta to share with you, but first we have a beta testing opportunity you might be interested in!

Our good friends at Tencent Boston are looking to expand their beta testing community for their upcoming Facebook game, code-named Project Emerson. We thought it might be a good fit for some Wowhead users, so we're inviting you to help test it out! Combining action RPG gameplay with RTS elements, Project Emerson looks to be a fun casual game for anyone waiting for their raid to form up. Plus, being a closed beta tester is always a rewarding experience since you get to try out an exciting new game before anyone else and feel involved with the game design process.